h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

...but I thought I'd paste here what I've been pasting everywhere I am online, including emailing every h2g2 related email address I have (some of you, therefore, have already seen this multiple times...) Here's what's gone everywhere: Quite a few of you have already heard the news, but some of you haven't. I figure it's worth annoying those that already know about this to bring information to those that don't--after all, I may have something to say that even people that already know the core news may not know (and if you've gotten this information from me via other forms of online communication, feel free to stop reading). First of all, the main announcement. You can read the full text here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/F77636?thread=8018187 To summarize, BBC Online is having its budget cut by 25%. Funding for h2g2 is among the cuts (the link goes into why). The good news is that, since h2g2 existed before the Beeb bought it (and thus was not originally developed by the BBC) Nick Reynolds, the Social Media Executive for BBC Online, has said that he is looking into a new home for h2g2. One option that has sprung up spontaneously is a consortium of h2g2 researchers that is looking into the possibility of the community taking over h2g2. The page set up for that is at http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A80173361 There is also a group on Google tied to that page, because document sharing is something that will need to be done. (Also, if you didn't go through BBCid, your old h2g2 account is no longer accessible. If you don't know what BBCid is, you didn't go through it.) The group is an open one, so even if you can't post on h2g2 without starting a new account, you can discuss things at https://groups.google.com/group/h2g2communityconsortium *********************************************************** And here's the bit that only went on FaceBook: Since this is likely the only version of this announcement that will be seen by a lot of non-h2g2ers, I should probably explain why the closing of a website is so important--after all, in the words of one of the original staff, "It's just a website." h2g2 will soon be celebrating its 12th birthday (or would be, if this hadn't just landed). That's right, it predates this century and the dot-com bust. It's a guide (if you've read Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, it was envisioned as the Earth edition of the Guide) that's been called "Wittipedia" (it came before Wikipedia). It was a place to write journal entries before blogs existed. It was a place to make friends around the world (personally, I have friends on 5 continents--no one in South America or Antarctica) before MySpace or FaceBook or any other social media place. OK, you may be thinking, so it's old. Why does Amy care? As I mentioned, I have gotten to know people from (almost) all over the world. Over half of the people on my friend list here I met at h2g2. On July 11, I will have been on h2g2 for a full decade. That means that h2g2 has been part of my life for over one quarter of it. I've written a rather long entry on epilepsy. I've contributed to a few collaborative entries. I've been published in h2g2's online newspaper, The Post. I've shared the details of my life, both major (announcing both pregnancies, writing both birth stories, moving, job changes) and minor (OB appointment info, vacations). I've made and received international phonecalls, totalling probably at least a week's worth of hours. I've flown across the country to meet people in person that I never would've met outside h2g2. I've been wanting to fly to the UK for over 9 years now to meet people that have become like family. I've mourned friends that I'll never get a chance to see face to face, whom I never would've known even existed. People have mourned the loss of my stepfather and my grandmother with me (I lost Dad before h2g2 existed, and Mom before I knew h2g2 existed). I've gotten a bit frantic about friends who self-harm and friends who are suicidal. I've cried. I've laughed (a lot). I've stuck my foo

It's not the end yet. This could be the beginning of something better.

Does that mean you don't have my email address anymore?

I did try to not bombard people I knew already knew (because I saw them commenting either at fb or at the page Dr Zen set up). I didn't look around much after work before I finished up at LJ, various Yahoo groups, email, and Xanga, though--I've since learned that some of the folks I alerted knew everything before I did

I'll just have to send you a test email, m'dear

Actually, maybe I don't have a current one for you, Ottox--do you still have your get2net.dk email? If not, my email's the same as it's been since 2000.

I answered before I saw your last post here!
So yes, I still have it, but as I said...



<-- havent used that for a long time!

Your announcement pretty much sums everything up, Amy. I might wake Fluffy Pink Rabbit up so he can find out. Or maybe not. Spring is soon enough. If it ever comes.

I didn't know that there were discussions about H2G2 on Facebook and at Google. All I know is that things are buzzing like crazy here at H2G2. People I haven't heard from in years are back -- Shea, for instance. Haven't seen Dragonfly yet, but it's only a matter of time.

I really don't have a clear idea of how much it would cost to run H2G2 ourselves. It's been suggested that we could follow the model of another site that finances itself through the sale of calenders. I would certainly be willing to buy lots of H2G2 stuff -- calendars, towels, stuffed dolphins, you name it. This poses copyright problems, though, because Douglas Adams's estate and publisher might feel entitled to royalties from these sales, and they might insist on quality control measures.

Dear Amy,
That is a beautiful post on the deep importance of h2g2 . .. ... ......... . . .. ...

I agree.

I would never have met Amy without this site.

GT Bacchus ?? Where are you ?? He signed in on January 14, 2010 so he took care of the new sign-in .. I am turning the house up side down and inside out looking for his old e-mail and phone number from when he was in Portland, OR .. but he has returned to Texas .. Did you get thru to him, Amy .. and there is Mikey the Humming Mouse in Seattle .. Thank you so much for all you have done to send out an S.O.S. ..It has also been noted elsewhere . .. ... ... . . .. ...

I've just rediscovered Fluffy Pink Rabbit, who may have a proposal of his own to make. How it happened: the snowstorm that arrives tomorrow may dump more than a foot of snow on Boston (where I live), so I figured I would take the ladder that's hidden behind the sofa, and shovel some snow from my roof so the air intake valve on my smokestack doesn't get blocked by the new snow. FPR was sleeping on the ladder. I moved him. Now he's sleeping on some Christmas CDs.

I've let Mikey and GT both know via FaceBook, and theoretically email as well

I mean GTBacchus, of course, though the other GT also has seen my note on fb

If you know more than one "GT," then you're ahead of me, Amy. I'm meeting some researchers I didn't know as I read the various threads about the H2G2 handoff.

Umm.. hi Amy and Ottox.


Dancer (who didn't get a mufflewhump for quite some time now)

DANCER!

*waves*

*Waves back*

*And front*

Hello there Dancer!

Welcome back, Dancer!